Chapter 4 - THE CONTRACT
By the next morning, I had learned two things.
The first was that recovering from three gunshot wounds involved far less glamorous suffering than television suggested.
There were no dramatic walks down hospital corridors.
There was vomiting.
Sweating.
Painful breathing exercises.
A physical therapist who seemed personally offended by my desire to remain horizontal.
The second thing I learned was that Victor Romano could turn a private hospital wing into a military fortress before breakfast.
Seven men guarded the floor.
Nobody entered without identification.
Flowers were opened and inspected.
Food trays were checked.
Even my physical therapist complained that a man named Enzo had searched her resistance bands for explosives.
“Your people are terrifying,” I told Victor.
He was sitting beside my window reading security reports.
“They aren’t my people.”
“Really?”
“Three are hospital security.”
“The one with the neck tattoo?”
“Mine.”
“Thought so.”
Victor lowered the folder.
“I need an answer.”
“To what?”
“Marriage.”
I stared at him.
“You’re still doing this?”
“Yes.”
“Your brother may have orchestrated a fake assassination attempt, and your priority is marrying the housekeeper?”
“My priority is keeping you alive.”
“Try a panic button.”
“I have twelve.”
“A guard.”
“You have seven.”
“A safe house.”
“You would leave.”
He knew me too well already.
I folded my arms carefully.
“This is ridiculous.”
Victor rose.
“No. Ridiculous was believing the attack was retaliation. Ridiculous was assuming my enemies suddenly became careless enough to attack my strongest residence in daylight.”
He placed a file on my blanket.
Inside were photographs.
The sunroom.
Bullet paths.
Positions.
Timing.
I looked away from the broken glass and dark stains.
Victor pointed to a diagram.
“The shooters fired over two hundred rounds.”
“And?”
“Only nine entered the section where Leo was sitting.”
I looked back.
“What does that mean?”
“They were deliberately firing around him.”
My skin prickled.
“They wanted him scared.”
“Yes.”
“They wanted me to…”
Victor nodded.
“Move toward him.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“That is what I intend to find out.”
I thought about Adrian’s note.
When she saves the boy, call me.
“How could Adrian know?”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
“That is another question.”
“Maybe he knew how I treated Leo.”
“He should not have known.”
“Security cameras.”
“Interior recordings are restricted.”
“To whom?”
Victor hesitated.
I caught it.
“To your family.”
He said nothing.
“Victor.”
“Adrian had access until four months ago.”
My heart sank.
“So he watched us.”
“Possibly.”
“And decided I would save Leo.”
“Possibly.”
“Why?”
Victor sat back down.
“I don’t know.”
It was clearly a sentence he hated.
I opened the file again.
Another document rested beneath the photographs.
A contract.
I stared at it.
“Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”
“Marriage agreement.”
“You brought paperwork?”
“My attorney did.”
“You already called an attorney?”
“Three.”
“Of course you did.”
I flipped through the pages.
Separate assets.
Medical coverage.
Housing.
Privacy requirements.
Security protocols.
A trust for Caleb.
A trust for me.
Then I found the number.
I nearly dropped the papers.
“Fifty million dollars?”
Victor did not react.
“If the marriage ends after five years.”
“Five years?”
“If I die first, you receive more.”
“How romantic.”
“This is not romance.”
“Thank you for reminding me.”
He leaned forward.
“It is protection.”
“Then stop calling it marriage.”
“What would you call it?”
“A hostage situation with excellent health insurance.”
A laugh came from the doorway.
Dominic stood there.
Victor glared at him.
Dominic immediately became serious.
“Sorry.”
I pointed at him.
“You laughed.”
“I coughed.”
“You absolutely laughed.”
Victor took the contract.
“We can modify the terms.”
“No.”
“Elise.”
“No.”
Dominic cleared his throat.
“Boss, we found something.”
Victor stood.
Dominic handed him a photograph.
Victor stared at it.
Then looked at me.
“What?”
He did not answer.
“Victor.”
He passed me the photograph.
It showed me.
Not at the Romano estate.
At St. Matthew’s Hospital.
I was standing outside Caleb’s old room three months earlier, holding coffee.
The photo had clearly been taken from a distance.
Another showed me leaving my apartment.
Another showed me walking into a grocery store.
Another showed me at the cleaning agency.
My hands began shaking.
“How long?”
Dominic answered.
“At least five months.”
I looked at Victor.
“Someone has been following me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
I threw the photographs onto the blanket.
“And your solution is still marriage?”
Victor’s face remained calm.
“My solution is making sure whoever took those pictures understands you are no longer alone.”
“I wasn’t alone.”
“You were.”
The truth hurt.
Caleb was ill.
My parents were gone.
Most of my friends had slowly disappeared during the years when my life became work, hospitals and bills.
I hated Victor for seeing it.
He sat beside me.
“You do not need to love me.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“You do not need to share my bed.”
My face warmed despite myself.
Dominic suddenly became very interested in the ceiling.
“You will have your own rooms.”
“Rooms?”
“My house is large.”
“I’ve cleaned it. I know.”
“You can return to school.”
I stared at him.
“Caleb receives the best medical care available whether you marry me or not.”
That surprised me.
“No condition?”
“No.”
“So you’re not buying me.”
His voice became quiet.
“I was never trying to.”
I studied him.
“What are you trying to do?”
For the first time, Victor seemed unable to answer immediately.
Then he looked toward the hallway where Leo’s laughter faintly carried through the door.
“I nearly lost my son.”
His voice changed.
“I have lived with enemies since I was seventeen. I know what fear feels like.”
He looked back at me.
“But when I saw him under you…”
He stopped.
I waited.
“I could not breathe.”
The confession was so simple that it disarmed me.
Victor Romano did not apologize.
He did not beg.
He did not soften words.
So when fear entered his voice, I believed it.
“And then I saw you bleeding.”
His gaze dropped.
“I realized there were two people on that floor I could not afford to lose.”
My heartbeat changed.
“Victor…”
“I don’t know what you want me to call that.”
Neither did I.
He touched the contract.
“But I know what I can offer.”
“Control?”
“Safety.”
“They aren’t always the same thing.”
“No.”
That answer surprised me again.
I looked at the contract.
“Six months.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
“If I agree, six months.”
His eyes sharpened.
“A trial?”
“A public marriage. Private boundaries.”
Dominic turned away to hide another smile.
I continued.
“I keep my own bank account. I make decisions about Caleb with Caleb.”
Victor nodded reluctantly.
“I go back to school when I can.”
“Yes.”
“I decide what Leo calls me.”
“Of course.”
“And no killing people because they annoy me.”
Victor’s face went blank.
Dominic coughed.
I pointed at Victor.
“I’m serious.”
“That condition requires clarification.”
“No killing anyone unless someone’s life is in immediate danger.”
“Elise—”
“No.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“You have an unrealistic understanding of my occupation.”
“Then consider retirement.”
Dominic whispered, “I like her.”
Victor ignored him.
“What happens after six months?”
“I choose whether I stay.”
Victor studied me for so long that I became uncomfortable.
Then he extended his hand.
“Agreed.”
I looked at it.
This was insane.
Completely insane.
But somebody had been following me.
Adrian Romano had predicted the attack months in advance.
Caleb was already involved.
And Leo…
I remembered him crying beneath me while bullets broke the world apart.
I put my hand in Victor’s.
His fingers closed carefully around mine.
“Six months.”
“Six months,” he said.
Dominic started toward the door.
“Call the attorney?”
Victor nodded.
I cleared my throat.
“One more thing.”
Both men turned.
“If we’re doing this, I want the truth.”
Victor’s expression shifted.
“About?”
“Everything.”
“That is impossible.”
“Then the deal is off.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You want to know about my business?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I want to know about Sofia.”
Victor went absolutely still.
Dominic’s face changed.
I knew immediately that I had touched something forbidden.
Victor slowly released my hand.
“My wife is dead.”
“I know.”
“That is all you need to know.”
“No.”
“Elise.”
“Leo asked whether that was her ring.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“You want me to wear a dead woman’s wedding ring and move into her home.”
His eyes flashed.
“It is my home.”
“It was hers too.”
Silence.
“If I’m going to stand beside her son, I need to know who she was.”
Victor turned away.
For a moment, I thought he would refuse.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?”
Victor turned.
Dominic lowered the phone.
“Boss.”
“What happened?”
“We found Adrian.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Where?”
Dominic swallowed.
“In Sofia’s grave.”
The room became silent.
Victor stared at him.
I thought I had misheard.
May you like
Then Dominic added the detail that changed everything.
“He’s alive.”
